speed dating
by KNO
Summary: AU, one-shot. Tenten tries her hand at speed dating, with mixed results. Fluff piece. Rated K


**~speed dating~**

Her first date set the tone for the next few that would follow. Tenten absently stirred her drink, trying to look attentive.

"I really see myself as the next CEO. I know I don't have that much experience yet, but you know what I do have? Work ethic. It's not every day that a courier with my attitude works for the biggest investment firm in the city. I'm _invested_, you know?"

Tenten hummed in agreement and chanced a glance at her watch. _One more minute_, she thought in relief.

Luckily for her, that last minute flew by. Her date got to his feet and shook her hand, looking apologetic. "We'll chat after," he promised.

Tenten smiled, turning her eyes to the man that slid into the seat opposite her. In contrast with the former, this one was significantly more . . . free-spirited. He was wearing a flak jacket with patches haphazardly sewn on. Tenten's eyes lingered on a few, her forehead creasing at the titles ('Dawn of Death', 'Razorsharp Sharks', 'Heart of Dark Descent', etc.).

"They're band names," the man said, leaning toward her. He put his elbows on the table, his shoulders hunching.

"Ah," Tenten said.

He stared back at her with an intense gaze. Tenten couldn't distinguish what color his eyes were; they were partially hidden behind tinted glasses.

"Do you like music?"

_What kind of question is that?_ Tenten thought. Her lips formed a friendly smile. "Yeah. I haven't heard of any of those though," she replied, nodding to his jacket.

"I wouldn't imagine you had," Band Boy said. "I don't listen to pop music."

Tenten's eyebrow twitched.

Band Boy spent the next fifteen minutes covering the 'important societal ramifications of the grunge movement' and educating Tenten on the underground niche music scene.

She gulped down more of her drink, keeping a tight smile on her face.

It was a rainy and muggy Thursday evening. The bar where this little dating adventure was located had done what they could to spruce up the environment for love. They had pulled aside five high-top tables and placed them on the far side of the room, lined up in a row in front of the windows. It was an upscale bar, which meant there was mood lighting and good music playing softly from some hidden speaker. The bartender could make a passable vodka soda, which Tenten appreciated. But the fellows who had shown up had yet to impress her.

_No expectations_, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time.

The coordinator's buzzer rang again, and with a thin smile, Band Boy slipped away to the next table.

Her next candidate was little better than the first, though he at least asked her questions about herself. When Tenten launched into her teaching gig, he waited about two seconds before interrupting with, "Oh, God, I could never teach."

Tenten sat back in her chair and released a small sigh of frustration.

At the next alarm, Tenten checked her watch again. She was tempted to bail, seeing as how she'd had zero luck with anyone. But she'd paid actual money for this stupid event (a measly fifteen dollars), and that fact alone kept her in her seat, begrudgingly clutching her glass.

The next man to sit down took one look at her and nodded at her empty glass. "Want another?"

"Yes," she said, watching him with narrowed eyes.

He looked over his shoulder, and caught the eye of a waitress, who immediately stepped over. Tenten gave her the glass and hurriedly wished for another vodka soda. With a smile, the waitress whisked it away.

The man studied her for a moment before slightly lifting his own glass—probably a bourbon, from the looks of it—and saying, "This is my second of the night."

"That miserable?" she prompted.

"This isn't how I would choose to spend my Thursday evening, no," he said firmly, taking a sip of the dark liquid.

Tenten watched the waitress make her way back over. She accepted it and paid, feeling more at ease.

He asked, "So, what do you do?"

Tenten took a quick sip from her replenished vodka soda and answered, "I'm a research assistant. Working on my master's."

"You teach then, as well?"

Tenten nodded, her eyes floating over to the nametag they'd all been forced to wear. The name _Neji_ was written in a slanted and sharp hand, as if he'd been in a hurry when writing it down. Her gaze lifted back to his. "Yeah. But only a few days a week."

"What are you working on?" he asked. His tone was flat, devoid of emotion. Tenten couldn't tell if he was interested in what she was saying, or if this was his effort at courteousness.

_Well, better than anything else I've gotten tonight_, she told herself. Aloud, she said, "The genetic legacy of the Mongolian empire."

His mouth pulled to the side in what Tenten believed was a sign of interest. He said, "I'm Neji."

"Tenten," she answered. "What's your job?"

Neji sat back in his chair, absently touching his tie. "I wouldn't want to bore you. I do consulting."

Tenten nodded easily with a sly smile. "Sorry. I think I would find that boring."

Neji shook his head. "No offense taken. Besides, isn't the whole purpose of this . . . event to find interesting things to talk about?"

"Something tells me you've had as much bad luck as I've had with that tonight," Tenten said.

Neji rolled his eyes. "This whole setup is stupid."

Tenten narrowed her eyes, an eyebrow perching in challenge. "You think so? I've heard it works for some people."

"Those people are deranged."

"Then why are you here?" Tenten retorted, a little miffed by his dismissal.

"Why does anyone come to a bar these days? To hopefully get semi-drunk and make foolish decisions . . . like kissing someone you hardly know. Which I wouldn't do." He released a self-deprecating smile.

Tenten pursed her lips in amusement. "You don't kiss?"

Neji shot her a loaded look, taking a sip from his glass. "Not if they're a stranger."

Tenten leaned forward, her elbows resting comfortably on the table. "So, you're not here to kiss anyone, and the drinks aren't free. I'm confused."

Neji smirked and tilted his head toward a woman with a kind face and long hair, standing near the bar, her arm looped with a blonde man's. "My cousin told me we were going to dinner. She brought me here instead."

Tenten smiled wickedly. "Your cousin signed you up without telling you? I shudder to think what that implies."

"She means well, though her attempt was misguided," Neji answered.

"Why?"

Neji tapped a long finger against his glass, studying Tenten thoughtfully. "You take this seriously, don't you?"

Tenten shrugged, leaning back in her chair. "Judge me if you want. But I've already deduced that my next boyfriend isn't in this room."

"What makes you so sure?"

Tenten scanned the room and discreetly gestured to the surrounding men left. "Full of himself. Deadbeat. Not my type. Unemployed."

Neji's eyes flickered over each man Tenten had pointed out. He took a long pull from his drink. Tenten's eyes lingered on his throat, watching him swallow. Neji regarded her intently. "Why are you here?"

"You mean speed dating?"

Neji shook his head. "Why are you single?"

Tenten tilted her head, considering him. "What kind of question is that?"

Neji pursed his lips and indicated briefly to the couples around them. "You don't fit in here."

"You mean I don't come off as desperate?"

"No."

"I could say the same for you. You have this whole . . . quiet nerd thing going for you."

Neji cracked a smile. "You're by far the most interesting person in this room. I have a hard time believing you can't get a date."

Tenten shrugged again, frowning. "Well, I can't. So, here I sit." She paused, treating Neji to a hard look. "And you? Besides the fact that you don't kiss strangers and your cousin had to coerce you into speed dating, you don't seem that bad."

The corner of Neji's mouth lifted, but he said nothing. Tenten continued, feeling a little put-off, "So, why did your cousin bring you here?

"Because she's incredibly happy in her own relationship and can't seem to reconcile the fact that I am not in the same situation." He glanced over his shoulder again at the woman and man standing near the bar. Tenten watched his features soften slightly.

She smiled, studying the couple. "They're cute. How long have they been together?"

"Almost a year," Neji answered, his eyes sliding back to hers as he finished the last of his drink. They gazed at each other for a moment, not saying anything. And then, the timer for the last round sounded.

Tenten tried not to frown. Neji stared at her, his hand resting on his empty glass. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Tenten's next candidate, a flat-faced man with messy brown hair: "Excuse me. The bell rang."

Neji and Tenten exchanged a silent look of amusement before Neji nodded once and got to his feet, moving along to the next table.

Tenten tried to refocus her attention on this new suitor. He was from the desert, had ventriloquy as a hobby (Tenten worked hard to keep her face devoid of horror on that one), and was utterly normal in retrospect to some of the others she'd come across during the evening. But her ear kept inclining towards her neighbor's table where Neji sat, hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Her neighbor seemed to be asking probing questions about the consulting work that Neji did, but he gave pithy and unsatisfying answers.

Her companion across the table waved his hand at her, recapturing Tenten's notice. "Sorry," she muttered. "Probably shouldn't have gotten a second drink."

"Can't hold your liquor?" he asked, eyeing her glass.

Tenten sipped from it in answer, making eye contact as she drank the last of it. "So," she said, setting down her empty glass on the table, "ventriloquy. How does someone get into that?"

Following a very protracted explanation on the high points of learning how to throw his voice, her date finally ended at the ringing of the last bell. He smiled at her and held out his phone for Tenten's number.

"Sorry—bathroom," Tenten mumbled, hurriedly getting to her feet to rush over to the restroom.

She studied her reflection in the mirror. Her lip gloss had lost some of its shine; Tenten reapplied it thoughtfully.

She walked out from the ladies' room and lingered by the door, checking to see if Puppet Guy had disappeared. He was at the bar, ordering a beer.

Tenten moved quickly to the other side of the room, her fingers brushing her bangs self-consciously. She was almost to the bar's entrance when her gaze caught on Neji. He'd been looking at her from his place in the corner. His cousin and her boyfriend were nowhere to be seen.

Tenten watched him get up from his stool and walk over, meeting her at the door. Tenten sent him a nervous smile, "Your cousin left you to your own devices? Seems like a dangerous thing to do."

"Not that dangerous. My mental faculties are only slightly affected."

Tenten studied him for a moment, wondering if he was going to ask for her number. When Neji ventured to say nothing else, Tenten asked, "Why did she leave without you? If this was unsuccessful?"

"Who said it was unsuccessful?" Neji retorted, raising an eyebrow.

Tenten crossed her arms, unable to pull away from his steady gaze. Neji went on, "I should probably admit that I was eavesdropping on your conversation with the ventriloquist."

Tenten flushed.

"I couldn't help but noticing you were doing the same," Neji finished.

Tenten bit the inside of her cheek. "Sorry. I'm kind of . . . nosy."

"The curse of all researchers, I would assume," Neji said with a small smirk.

Tenten's tension eased a little. "Something like that."

"In the interest of full disclosure, I never ask strangers out to dinner," Neji said, his jaw clenching.

A weight in Tenten's chest loosed. She released a smug grin. "Oh, really? I'm guessing that falls in with the no kissing strangers and no attending speed dating events too?"

Neji ignored this question, his gaze direct. "Do you want to go to dinner with me? Tonight?"

Tenten, though caught a little off-guard from his frankness, nodded. "Sure," she answered, her stomach fluttering with excitement.

Neji inclined his head toward the door, his features expressionless. Tenten, smiling to herself, led the way.

* * *

**~o~**

"That was the best dinner I've had in ages," Tenten sighed as they left the restaurant.

"It was overpriced," Neji replied, walking next to her.

It had rained while they'd been inside, making the evening that much muggier. Tenten carefully skirted around puddles as they made their way down the sidewalk.

"But delicious," she countered, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

Neji nodded once, his mouth quirking again. "Are you always this easy to please?" he asked.

"No," Tenten admitted firmly. "But I'm on stipend. So nice dinners aren't the norm for me."

"I'll keep that in mind," Neji replied softly.

They entered a companionable silence as they continued down the street. Tenten had thoroughly enjoyed her dinner with Neji. They'd spent most of it poking fun at the rabble who'd shown up for the dating event at the bar, then shifted into a more in-depth conversation over Tenten's research work and her goals after getting her master's.

They walked for a good ten minutes before Tenten asked, "You never answered my question, back at the bar. Where did your cousin go?"

Neji smiled to himself, meeting her eyes briefly. "I told her to go on without me."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you."

Tenten blushed, turning her face away to hide her pleasure at his words. "You mean you wanted to ask me out to dinner," she corrected, teasing.

"Yes," Neji said.

"And you didn't want her as a spectator?" Tenten ventured.

Neji nodded. Tenten mused over this, her eye catching on her building as they neared the entrance. With a sigh, she pointed to it. "This is me."

Neji silently walked her up to the lobby and Tenten fumbled for her key inside her purse. He waited, watching her.

When Tenten held it aloft, smiling weakly, Neji shifted his footing. Tenten stared up at him, her throat dry. "You can kiss me, if you want," she whispered, pinned to the spot by his stare.

A flicker of a smile crossed Neji's mouth. Not saying a word, he leaned down and kissed her.

It was slow. His hand cradled the back of her neck, tilting her head slightly. Tenten could feel herself sinking into it, his lips the right amount of insistent and gentle, pulling softly at her own.

When he pulled away, looking at her carefully, Tenten pressed her lips together, pushing at the surge of excitement and desire rushing up inside of her. "I thought you said you don't kiss strangers," she murmured.

Neji half-shrugged. "First time for everything." And he bent down and kissed her again.

* * *

**A/N:** _Just something fluffy and short. Hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you have any thoughts! - KNO_


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